STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6714 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 15, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. GALEF, DICKENS, BLAKE, GOTTFRIED, D'URSO, NIOU, LAWRENCE -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to opportunity to ballot committee to receive notices The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 6-164 of the election law, as amended by chapter 16 2 of the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 6-164. Primary, uncontested; opportunity to ballot. Enrolled members 4 of a party entitled to vote in the nomination of a candidate for public 5 office or the election of a candidate for party position in a primary 6 election of such party, and equal in number to at least the number of 7 signers required to designate a candidate for such office or position 8 may file with the officer or board with whom or which are filed desig- 9 nating petitions for such office or position a petition requesting an 10 opportunity to write in the name of a candidate or candidates, who need 11 not be specified, for such office or position. Upon the receipt of such 12 a petition, such office or position shall be deemed contested and the 13 primary ballots of the party shall afford an opportunity to vote there- 14 on. Requests for an opportunity to write in the names of candidates for 15 two or more offices or positions may be included in the same petition. 16 Such petitions shall be subject to objections and court determination 17 thereof in the same manner as designating petitions so far as the 18 provisions therefor are applicable. All required notices shall be served 19 on the members of the committee named in the petition, and such commit- 20 tee shall have capacity to bring a proceeding under this chapter as if 21 such committee was a candidate named on a petition. A signature to a 22 petition for an opportunity to ballot in primary elections made earlier 23 than sixteen days before the last day to file designating petitions for 24 the primary election shall not be counted. 25 § 2. This act shall take effect on the fifteenth day of December after 26 it shall have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD10642-01-9